By STEPHANIE LODER • GANNETT NEW JERSEY • August 12, 2008
Four waterspouts were seen Monday between the mainland and Tices Shoal on the bay side of Island Beach State Park, bringing high winds and pelting the area with rain before dissipating.
No damage or injuries were reported.
The National Weather Service in Mount Holly confirmed that conditions existed at 12:36 p.m. Monday, the time the four waterspouts were sighted.
"It was just spectacular," said Donald Launer, whose Spar Drive home is about a mile from where the waterspouts were. He photographed them.
"There was a circular disturbance in water. Then all of the sudden you saw a twister coming down from a cloud," he said. "It took a very long time to come down, and it met the disturbance in water."
Launer pinpointed the location of the disturbance — or twister — as being "halfway between mainland and Tices Shoal on the bay side of Island Beach State Park."
National Weather Service meteorologist James Eberwine said radar showed conditions just after noon in the Spar Drive area were conducive to the waterspouts.
"You can see it right there on the radar," Eberwine, a lead forecaster for the Marine and Hurricane Focal Point, said of the larger waterspout. "It's a very well-developed waterspout that's about as classic as you are going to see."
The four waterspouts ranged in size from one that was wide and tall to much thinner, more "wispy waterspouts," Launer said.
Thunderstorms were in the area when the waterspouts formed, he said.
Launer is no stranger to waterspouts. He is a freelance editor and writer for nautical magazines and has published numerous books and papers on boating. However, he said he expected to see such funnel clouds in the Florida Keys, not the Jersey Shore.
"The whole thing took about 10 to 15 minutes. The big one lasted 10 to 15 minutes and the smaller ones that came later after the big ones started disappeared first," he said.
He added that the conditions appeared right from the start for such waterspouts.
"The clouds were moving from the west across the bay," he said. "And the water has been warm and in the 70s."
Eberwine, who also confirmed 1-inch hail that fell in the Manahawkin section of Stafford on Sunday, said warm ocean waters "help support the development of the waterspouts."
The waterspouts and hail were part of a major storm in the area that rolled through the state Sunday evening into Monday morning with high winds, rain and hail, said Eberwine.
"This was somewhat of an unusual setup for August," he said. "We had a major, major front come through that produces hail and other weather situations."
He said there were six reports of hail and one report of wind damage through Middlesex and Mercer counties Sunday night into Monday morning.
Eberwine called the large waterspout "spectacular."
"Waterspouts can come from cumulus clouds, and there might not necessarily be a thunderstorm," Eberwine said. "You might not hear thunder or lighting, just see a funnel that spins up over the water."
Waterspouts spotted over Barnegat bay
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Check out these pics.
Glad I wasn't anywhere near those.
